Leroy Augustus Stafford

Leroy Augustus Stafford (13 April 1822-8 May 1864) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded the 9th Louisiana Infantry until he was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864.

Biography
Leroy Augustus Stafford was born in Cheneyville, Rapides Parish, Louisiana on 13 April 1822 to a family of wealthy plantation owners, and he operated plantations and served as his parish's sheriff from 1846 to 1847 before joining the US Army during the Mexican-American War. He served in Benjamin McCullough's Texas Rangers during the war, and he became a militia captain of the Confederate States Army at the start of the American Civil War in 1861. In early 1862, he became the colonel of a Louisiana regiment, and he briefly took over a brigade after William E. Starke was killed at the Battle of Antietam. Stafford served with the Louisiana Tigers at both Chancellorsville and Gettysburg in 1863, and he took command of the 2nd Louisiana Brigade later that year. On 5 May 1864, a Minie ball pierced his spinal cord as he led his men into battle at The Wilderness in Virginia, and he died from his wounds three days later.